A known vehicle walk-in device disclosed in JP10035331A slides a seat in conjunction with a tilting operation of a seat back of the seat in order to increase a space so that a passenger smoothly gets in and out of the vehicle.
The known vehicle walk-in device includes a first lock member, a second lock member, a main mechanism and a sub mechanism. Specifically, the first lock member, provided at one side of the seat in a seat width direction, unlocks the seat so as to slide on the fixed rail, the second lock member, provided at the other side of the seat in a seat width direction, also unlocks the seat so as to slide on the fixed rail, the main mechanisms, provided at the one side of the seat in a seat width direction, unlocks the first lock member in conjunction with the tilting operation of the seat back of the seat, and the sub mechanism unlocks the second lock member in conjunction with the operation of the main mechanism.
In this configuration, the above mentioned unlocking operation in conjunction with the tilting operation of the seatback is performed by only the main mechanism provided at the one side of the seat, and an operation of the main mechanism is transmitted to the sub mechanism by means of a link mechanism. However, the configuration of the link mechanism is generally complicated, and such mechanism requires a large space to be mounted. This results in complicating a mechanism of the vehicle walk-in device, and the design thereof is restricted.
Further, at the time of the walk-in operation is performed, once the seat back of the seat is tilted, the main mechanism is actuated. Then, an operation of a first release link of the main mechanism is transmitted to a second release link of the sub mechanism. At this point, a loss in the transmitted operation transmitting may be caused by, for example, a size tolerance, a clearance tolerance and an assembling tolerance. Thus, the actuation of the second release link of the sub mechanism may delay comparing to the actuation of the first release link of the main mechanism, and there is a limit to enhance a synchronism between the main mechanism and the sub mechanism.
Further, a load generating an excessive stroke at the first release link and the second release link may be applied thereto.
A need thus exists to provide a vehicle walk-in device having a simple configuration, enhancing the synchronism and reducing a load generating an excessive stroke.